Orange Is the New Black 6.01

Who Knows Better Than I?

The guards who killed Piscatella try to pin his death on the inmates. Cindy and Suzanne see and overhear the guards planning how to pin Piscatella's death on the inmates. They avoid getting caught until they have distanced themselves from the pool room and Piscatella's body.

Berlin attempts suicide but is unsuccessful in her attempt. She is restrained for the rest of the episode to prevent her from making another attempt.

All of the inmates who were in the pool room (Taystee, Cindy, Suzanne, Dayanara, Chapman, Nickels, Flores, Berlin, Ruiz, Mendoza, Red) are placed in maximum security. They are questioned and beaten up at the smallest sign that they are unwilling to cooperate.

Red gets a roommate, Madison Murphy. Madison thinks that Red and the others from minimum security are soft. Red isn't intimidated.

Chapman wants to know what happened to Vause, who was also in the pool room but hasn't been seen since. She asks everyone if they have seen Vause. No one has seen her. Chapman is in medical when the episode ends after she gets tripped by Madison and injures herself.

Suzanne gets interrogated by the investigating officer. He isn't buying her craziness. She has a lawyer who talks the officer into having a psych evaluation done. Suzanne spots Whitehill while she is having her evaluation done. Suzanne doesn't pass. She is given an injection to help calm her down.

Red comes up with a story for the prisoners who get moved to max: Piscatella took them hostage. They all agree to it except for Cindy and Suzanne who go with their story that they were hiding in the closet where they were eventually found.

The episode ends with Suzanne getting released into gen pop of the maximum security section of Litchfield.

Thoughts

There is no flashback spotlight in this episode. There are no scenes that take place outside of Litchfield.

I have no idea what happened to Vause. Presumably there will be at least some hints later this season.  I'm pretty sure that she does return. There are no other inmates from previous seasons that showed up in this episode other than the ones named above.

All of the correctional officers in this episode are unfamiliar faces. One of them is someone that Taystee knew before she was sent to prison.

I think that Suzanne will survive in gen pop. She hallucinates a number of times during this episode. Her most common hallucination is that her adoptive mother is with her. These hallucinations make me think that Suzanne is emotionally stronger than she usually seems. Maybe she will have some sort of break through this season and learn how to cope.

I'm eager to see how things go between Red and Madison. I think Red will win that fight but I don't think that it will be an easy win.

This was a good beginning to the season. I am not surprised that the correctional officers have decided to try and pin Piscatella's death on the inmates. I wonder how long the focus is going to be on the death of Piscatella. I will be surprised if it lasts the whole season but I could see it being a part of the first three or four episodes. It seems like, based on the promo images for this season, that most if not all of this season is going to be set in the maximum security section of the prison.